The Central Board for Film Certification has denied claims that it has ordered the makers of Ford vs Ferrari to blur out glasses of alcohol in the film. An earlier report by Huffington Post India had claimed that certain scenes with alcohol bottles and glasses, both in the background and foreground, have been “hastily pixelated”.
The CFBC has called these claims “completely baseless”. Tushar Karmarkar, Regional Officer, CBFC Mumbai told Hindustan Times, “This is completely baseless. No such cut was mentioned by the CBFC in its communication to applicant (sic) asking for modifications.” He claimed that the blurring was “voluntarily done by them (producers 20th Century Fox)” as per the film certification board’s records.
The publication claims that according to an official document, the Christian Bale and Matt Damon-starrer has received a U/A certificate with three modifications: Muting or replacing phrases such as sons of w***e and son of a b***h; adding space to display the CBFC certificate; and inserting anti-smoking disclaimers and a static message during each smoking scene.
Labels for alcohol brands are usually censored over advertising concerns, but instances of the CBFC blurring glasses or bottles of alcohol are rare. Members of the film industry, such as Farhan Akhtar and Onir, had expressed their disappointment at the alleged censorship. “The day is not far when they’ll just have the script read out in theatres. Why the Indian adult is treated like a delinquent who can’t think for him/herself or tell right from wrong is beyond me!!” tweeted Farhan.
Directed by James Mangold, Ford vs Ferrari is the story of American car designer Carroll Shelby and British-born driver Ken Miles who battled the odds to build a revolutionary race car for the Ford Motor Company to overtake those of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966. The film hit theatres on 15 November.
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